US Open 2024 Men’s Day 2

Top seed Jannik Sinner shrugged off a slow start, with the Italian accelerating to a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 win to start the US Open on Tuesday.

The top seed who has been embroiled in a spring inadvertent doping case in which he has been found innocent, needed to gather his concentration to take down Mackenzie McDonald.

Sinner now leads the series 4-0 and sets the pace on the ATP this season with 29 hardcourt wins and four titles.

McDonald looked nothing like the underdog who defeated Rafael Nadal at the 2023 Aussie Open. Victory was the first for Sinner on the Ashe showcourt after three defeats.

Challenger Mcdonald may have sprinted off with the opening set – he won five straight games – but was reeled in by the reigning Australian Open winner from  the German-speaking alpine part of the peninsula.

Sinner took control once he found his feet and raced away to the second round.

“I started not in the best way,” he said. “These first matches are never easy. He was playing well in the beginning. I tried to stay in mentally and get y rhythm

“I got it in the second set and just tried to keep going. I’m very happy to finally win on this court, it means a lot. I sill have room to improve.

Australian Thanasi Kokknakis scored an upset as he knocked out 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 thriller which lasted for a shade under four hours.

Kokkinakis dropped 17 aces among 47 winners versus 46 unforced errors, tsitsipas, who has never passed the third round at the event, ended with 10 aces and more than 50 unforced errors.

Polish seventh seed Hubert Hurkacz, who retired in the Cincinnati quarter-finals less than a month after knee surgery, bounced back with a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) opening win over Kazakh Timofey Skatov.

Canada’s Felix Auger-Alaissime took a surprise loss to Czech Jakub Mesnik, going down 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 for a second loss in a row this season at the first round of a major.

FAA was defeated at the opening hurdle at Wimbledon by Thanasi Kokknakia.

Czech Tomas Machac handed Italian veteran Fabio Fognini his eighth first round loss in New York, producing a 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 result.

Brit Jack Draper hammered out an opening win over Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-0, 4-0 as the Chinese player retired.

Main photo Jack Draper.